jessmason

Next morning we were up at 7.30am and we all had to leave at 8.30. We arrived in Nairobi at 9.30 and said our goodbyes to those who weren’t going to Carnivores for lunch that day, Amy had booked us in. We got off the truck at the Boulevarde hotel and walked with a bunch of other to the parkside, only 10 mins away and had to wait in reception for an hour before we could check in. Finally we got our room. We chilled for a little while before meeting the others to take taxis that Amanda had managed to organize for us to Carnivore. It’s a restaurant where most tourists who visit Nairobi will go, theres a flat rate and its all you can eat meat basically, they come around with huge swords of ... read more

Next morning we had organized a taxi to take us to Mombasa to the bus stop. We got there almost an hour early, much better than being late though. Finally we got on our bus and it was the aircon version, very comfy, but it took a while for the aircon to cool the bus down sufficiently. We stopped halfway at the same place as on the way to Mombasa and had some empanadas (they call them meat pies) then oiled on again and left for Nairobi. We arrived at about 7.30 at the bus stop, and had called ahead to a taxi driver who gave us his card, but he sent his mate who waited for us since 6pm when the bus was supposed to arrive! We felt bad so paid extra even though he ... read more

Next morning we were up early as we had prearranged the shuttle to Nairobi that was to pick us up at 7.30ish. We had breakfast (included) and then raced downstairs. We got on the shuttle and it took us to the actual shuttle that was just out of central Arusha, thank goodness because the first shuttle wasn’t very nice. We got seats and our big bags were secured on top of the bus and we waited until it was full before leaving just after 8.30. We got to the border and it took a long while to get stamped out of Tanzania, almost everyone had to get their finger prints taken and a photo of them taken before the stamp was given. The process into Kenya was much easier including having to get a visa. It ... read more

The view from the train was pretty amazing, rolling hills, forests, villages and farmland. We seemed to stop very often, it was the ordinary train not the express. There were lots of little villages, but since we were at the back of the train all the people selling things on the side of the tracks would run down the train to sell things to passengers. Wehad bought most of our food in Kapiri Mposhi so didn’t need to buy much. We did however occasionally buy a meal from the train restaurant. Because we were in first class, a man would come along for each meal and take orders, then bring them to the room for us. The bar was a few carriages up the train between first and second classes. It was just a few lounges ... read more

We had to wait in a line that didn’t move for ages at the Zimbabwe immigration and eventually got out of there after an hour and a bit and paying $30 per person for the visa. We drove to Victoria Falls (that’s the name of the town next to the falls on the Zimbabwe side) and had lunch at our hotel, Adventure Lodge. The adventure team then showed us a video and explained all the activities that are possible, including white water rafting, bungi jumping, riding elephants and walking with lions. Unfortunately for us, all of these were prohibitively expensive. That afternoon Patrick drove us all to the Victoria falls park entrance and we all said goodbye as he had been told to drive the truck back to Swakopmund by Monday (it was Saturday) in ... read more